LPN shares the four weakest characters on his Street Fighter 5 tier list

Posted by John Velociraptor Guerrero • November 16, 2015 at 7:29 p.m. PST • Comments: 136

Correction: This story had initially stated that this information from LPN was based on the public beta version of SF5, when in fact it was from the latest build he played at Capcom USA headquarters, which is different than the betas that have been released to the general public.

If you've ever met Long "pH|LPN" Nguyen, you know that he's a mad scientist when it comes to fighting games.

Traditionally a jack of all trades in any game he touches, Long spends many hours investigating, testing and experimenting with different characters, approaches and styles.

Showing an overwhelming enthusiasm with the latest build of Street Fighter 5 he got to play at Capcom USA headquarters, Long has graciously detailed for us a full breakdown of all the characters in the game up to Laura.

He has organized them from weakest to strongest, pointing out the strengths and weaknesses for each, and backing up his opinions with facts. Today we bring you the bottom four characters on Long's tier list.

Hit the jump to see them.

[B+] Requires a little more work than average to win with

Ken

PROS
• High damage target combos
• St.hp crush counter -> VSkill which leads to big damage
• St.mk has great range and confirmable into full target combo for more damage
• Easy to confirm into combos
• Fast dash animation and walk speed
• EX Tatsu has great range and speed for punishing moves from afar
• Stylish!

CONS
• Normals canceled on block into V-Skill are negative
• V-Skill is slow
• Short hit box on cr.mk (range is similar to cr.lk ~ essentially has 2 cr.lks )
• Slow Fireball start up and recovery
• V-Reversal doesn't net a knockdown

Laura

PROS
• Great mobility (V-Skill forward or backwards, dash)
• Good damage and stun output
• Pretty good ranged pokes (cr.mp/cr.hp/F+hp)
• V-Trigger has good recovery
• V-Trigger usability opens up opportunities for extended combos and can make certain actions safe
• Critical art doubles as a grab and hit grab making it possible to combo into
• She's sexy!

CONS
• Can't combo crouching light attacks (unless on counter hit)
• V-Skill (overhead followup) is slow and punishable on block
• Slow fireball
• Lacking normals that she can hit confirm (only cr.lp->st.lk , st.lk x2 possible w/o resources)
• Low block stun/hit stun on normals

Chun-Li

PROS
• Safe EX lightning legs on block and nets good damage all in one
• Good neutral
• Good mobility
• Easy to confirm into combos
• V-Trigger potential is high

CONS
• Without resources, she's bland and can't handle pressure very well
• Weak Anti Airs
• Slow V-Skill startup
• Overall damage output is average

Ryu

PROS
• Solid mobility
• Good damage output
• Easy confirms into combos from multiple ranges
• V-Trigger buffs stun and fireball speed
• Good pokes (st.lk, st.mp)

CONS
• Cr.mk has very little range
• V-Reversal is slow
• Combos are limited and doesn't leave much room for creativity
• Low stun output overall

LPN note's that these four characters make up the lowest tier of his list, but that they are not in any specific order within the tier itself. This means Chun-Li isn't necessarily the worst in the game, but she's bottom four.

Do you agree with LPN's list so far? Tell us in the comments.

LPN's SF5 Tier List

• LPN shares the four weakest characters on his Street Fighter 5 tier list
• LPN shares the next five characters on his Street Fighter 5 tier list
• LPN shares his top four characters in the current build of Street Fighter 5

Photo by EmbersandRoses.